The Association for Delivery Drivers (A4DD) spoke out for local food delivery drivers at a 3-day FDA summit on safe food delivery this month.  The event title is a mouthful — New Era of Smarter Food Safety Summit on E-Commerce:  Ensuring the Safety of Foods Ordered Online and Delivered Directly to Consumers.  A4DD Executive Director Peter Schlactus addressed over 8,000 stakeholders from 52 countries.  Participants included state and federal regulators, academics, food industry representatives, and consumer advocates.  One of the moderators thanked A4DD for bringing in the perspective of hard-working delivery drivers.

Peter began his remarks by calling everyone’s attention to you. “All too often the perspective that is lacking is that of the front-line workers – the drivers who put in long hours under stressful conditions to get meals and groceries delivered timely and safely… Our members, consisting of delivery drivers nationwide, are among the heroes of this pandemic, risking their own health to tend to the needs of the rest of us and make a decent living for themselves and their families.”

A4DD sounded “a note of caution about tradeoffs between safety and speed.”  For example, overly strict regulations “could increase time pressure on drivers and lead to auto accidents.” Drivers “should not have to choose between safe driving and delivering food” safely.  We pointed out that “it is difficult to know the condition of the food” that you pick up and urged the FDA to protect drivers from taking on too much responsibility for unsafe or spoiled food.

The Association went on to remind regulators about the independent contractor status of many drivers: “Setting standards for delivery drivers with employees in mind won’t necessarily succeed in touching many of the front-line workers you are targeting.” Another challenge is “the limited means that many small delivery vendors have to invest in additional technology, equipment, etc.”

In response to speakers who implied that workers may take shortcuts that could make food unsafe, A4DD defended drivers.  You are “consumers of this food, not just the people who deliver it.” And you “have as much of a stake in the success of this New Era initiative as anyone.”

 Click here to view the full version of A4DD’s remarks and click here to see the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint.  The Federal government will consider A4DD’s comments as it determines what regulations are needed to ensure safe food delivery.

What do YOU think we should be telling the FDA?  The Association will have an opportunity to send in additional comments.  Let us know what’s important to you.